The first is the obvious battlefield. However, the second is communication. Suppose you DO NOT keep communication open through the back channels. In that case, there is NEVER the possibility of PEACE, and the war then becomes concluded only when one side is obliterated. This is what has taken place, and the demonizing of Putin is HIGHLY dangerous, for it shows there is no intention of peace. You cannot keep calling someone a piece of shit publicly and then expect the people to accept a reversal of that policy.

Demonizing an opponent is to create hatred that leads your troops to be willing to die for some greater good. Field Marshall Goring explained it well when he was on trial at Nuremberg. You always denounce the peacemakers as conspiracy theorists, or as Nuland is calling the anti-war Republicans – "Putin's wing of the Republican Party." Victoria Nuland is the real Commander & Chief, not Biden, who is directing this war. She has made clear that she has absolutely no intention of stopping the war. The Neocons have spent their entire lives drooling at the thought of conquering Russia and China. When Communism fell, they never changed their view. When Ronald Reagan wanted to meet with Gorbachev, sensing that Russia wanted to end Communism, the Neocons objected, and I can tell you they told him, "You can never trust a Russian." Reagan refused to listen and met with Gorbachev, and the Berlin Wall collapsed.

There was a peace deal that this war would have been over in 6 weeks. Putin withdrew his troops from the outskirts of Kiev as a sign of good faith that the deal would be that Zelensky would have secured the rights of the people in the Donbas and agreed not to join NATO. Putin agreed to withdraw all his troops from the occupied region in return for that agreement.